Restorative juvenile justice — The challenges — The rewards.

Source: (2009) Paper presented at the 1st World Congress on Restorative Juvenile Justice. Lima Peru, 4-7 November.

The paper entitled “Restorative Juvenile Justice: the Challenges, the Rewards” was written by Justice Renate Winter as a contribution to the discussions of the 1st World Congress on Restorative Juvenile Justice that took place in Lima, Peru, from 4-7 November 2009. The paper underlines the importance of the establishment of a child-sensitive juvenile justice system that takes into consideration the specificity of the child and its social environment as well as the role of education in its development. The author explores the evolution of societal attitudes towards children and consequently, the different kinds of responses to crimes committed by children that appeared throughout the centuries. It focuses on restorative justice as an alternative approach to punishment and imprisonment that brings together the victim, the offender and any other individual or community member affected by the crime in order to “restore peace” in a constructive way. (abstract courtesy of the Juvenile Justice Panel, www.juvenilejusticepanel.org)